Support for Players related to team represented

During a recent interview to CNN TalkAsia, Mr. Lalit Modi, Chairman of the Indian Premier League commented that the real success of the IPL lies in the fact that the crowd had really adopted their own home teams resulting in incidents such as Rahul Dravid, ex-captain of the Indian Cricket team being booed in Mumbai, and Sachin Tendulkar being booed in parts of India other than Mumbai.

However, the current vice-captain of the Indian team does not seem to understand this. After his Kings XI Punjab team defeated the Mumbai Indians in their home at the Wankhede Stadium by a solitary run, Yuvraj commented at the post-match presentation that the crowd only supported the home team and forgot that Yuvraj & few of his team mates are part of the Indian National side.

Yuvraj seems to have forgotten that he was representing the Punjab side at that moment & was playing in Mumbai, so how did he expect the crowd to cheer for him? Was he sleeping to not take note that his own Punjab crowd did not support (and cannot be expected to support) the India National team players in the Mumbai Indians team, when they played at Mohali?

As Mr. Modi rightly says, this was the real success factor of the IPL. Who would have imagined that a packed Eden Gardens crowd at Kolkata would actually support Shoaib Akhtar against Virendra Sehwag & celebrate when Shoaib Akhtar would dismiss Sehwag ? Similarly the Delhi crowd also cheered Dinesh Karthik against the Mumbai Indians’ pacer Ashish Nehra, who otherwise plays for Delhi.

The sooner Yuvraj understands this, the better it is for him. One certainly didn’t expect the Indian Vice-Captain to make such statements. He would have all the support of the Mumbai crowd when he wears the India Blues, but as long as he is donning the Punjab colours, he will be appropriately booed by the Mumbai crowd.

Star cricketers are used to having a large fan following nowadays, but its time they understand that they are supported only because of the team they represent !

One Comment → “Support for Players related to team represented”

harsha

10 years ago

“..but as long as he is donning the Punjab colours, he will be appropriately booed by the Mumbai crowd.”

What do you mean by “appropriately booed”? For your information, he was the winning captain that night and so the Mumbai crowd are not expected to boo him. Ideally you’re not supposed to heckle ANY player, but that’s too much to ask from Mumbai. Atleast respect and acknowledge good performances.

The Punjab crowd may have one-sidedly supported their home team but they did not cry out ‘sachin sucks.’ Mumbai crowd should learn something from them.